St. Louis Cardinals (21-15, second in the NL Central) vs. San Diego Padres (22-14, second in the NL West)

San Diego; Thursday, 10:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 23 strikeouts); Padres: Michael King (3-2, 2.95 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 39 strikeouts)

LINE: Padres -177, Cardinals +148; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The San Diego Padres host the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday to begin a four-game series.

San Diego has a 22-14 record overall and an 11-8 record at home. The Padres have gone 15-1 in games when they scored at least five runs.

St. Louis has a 21-15 record overall and an 11-5 record in road games. The Cardinals rank ninth in MLB play with 44 total home runs, averaging 1.2 per game.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

TOP PERFORMERS: Xander Bogaerts has a .276 batting average to lead the Padres, and has two doubles and seven home runs. Miguel Andujar is 12 for 39 with two home runs and eight RBI over the past 10 games.

Jordan Walker leads the Cardinals with a .303 batting average, and has six doubles, 10 home runs, 16 walks and 27 RBI. Alec Burleson is 12 for 40 with two home runs and 12 RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Padres: 4-6, .234 batting average, 5.73 ERA, outscored by 10 runs

Cardinals: 7-3, .249 batting average, 3.50 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs

INJURIES: Padres: Jake Cronenworth: 7-Day IL (concussion), Will Wagner: 10-Day IL (oblique), German Marquez: 15-Day IL (forearm), Jhony Brito: 60-Day IL (elbow), Bryan Hoeing: 60-Day IL (elbow), Nick Pivetta: 15-Day IL (elbow), Joe Musgrove: 15-Day IL (elbow)

Cardinals: Ramon Urias: 10-Day IL (elbow), Matt Pushard: 15-Day IL (knee), Lars Nootbaar: 60-Day IL (heels)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.